


You're Here With Me

by kaianieves



Category: Supernatural
Genre: A Round of Events, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:54:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22345177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaianieves/pseuds/kaianieves
Summary: “Showing affection to my girlfriend is a crime now?” Claire asks.“Yes,” Patience agrees. “Against everyone single.”-Love to hunting is what oil is to water. And yet Claire gets to have it. Alex doesn't know if she should feel as jealous as she does. Maybe Patience being around all the time doesn't help it either...
Relationships: Alex Jones/Patience Turner, Donna Hanscum/Jody Mills, Kaia Nieves/Claire Novak, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	You're Here With Me

i.

“You know, I really love this,” Alex says. Patience almost stops on the sidewalk. She doesn’t, because foot traffic is heavy and someone would definitely bump into her, and then she’d lose Alex. Instead she smushes her lips together, feeling the lipgloss on them move around a little. She can’t help it when they tip up into a small smile.

“What?” she asks.

“Spending time… together. It’s nice,” Alex continues.

Kansas City is loud. Louder than Sioux Falls, but not as loud as Atlanta. A weird middle ground. Patience doesn’t know how to feel about it, except when she looks away from the buildings and people back at Alex. Then the scenery doesn’t really matter.

They’ve been roaming the streets for hours now, alone. Kaia and Claire stuck with Donna in the big department stores, but Alex got bored looking at the clothes and proposed an escape plan. It’s not like they didn’t text them that they were taking off, though.

“I’m kind of hungry,” Patience says.

“You sure you can’t read minds, too?” Alex asks.

She wishes she could. Or if she could simply understand her own to begin with. All of these new, murky thoughts that are definitely conceited and a major stretch are circling around her mind all of the sudden. Patience doesn’t know what to make of them.

“I’m sure. We could go somewhere?” she says instead.

“Sure.”

Patience waves down a cab. When was the last time she was in a cab? Alex is asking the cabbie where’s good to eat around here. He suggests a couple of places, one of which Alex is now looking up on her phone. Patience looks over her shoulder, holding her breath because she doesn’t want to breathe on Alex. That would be horrible, gross. Maybe that’s her anxiety talking.

They both decide on the closest thing to a vegan salad bar that the midwest could have. Patience is trying to go vegetarian and definitely  _ almost  _ commited. That extra little push is needed. Alex seems perfectly fine paying an extra ten dollars to accomodate that.

“We can go somewhere else, you know,” Patience says, turning around. Alex is leaning out of the cab, paying the driver. Soon, she stands up proper on the sidewalk and approaches Patience, letting the car drive away. They both look up at the white cursive sign standing tall above them, the clear marker of where the restaurant is.

“But I want to go here,” Alex says. “It’ll be an experience.”

“Okay. As long as you’re not, like, only doing it for me.”

“Come on, don’t be ridiculous,” Alex says, grabbing her hand. She leads the way into the building. It’s a little too bright and too clean. Industrial-looking. Why are the walls bare concrete? Why the design choice of a chandelier made up of thirty exposed lightbulbs?

“This place says weird vegan gentrification all over it,” Patience says as they sit down, food in front of them. They had to wait twenty minutes. She got an avocado salad with bacon bits. Oh well. “It has all the pseudo-woke indie markers.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Alex says. She puts a forkful of kale salad barely touched by chunky raspberry vinaigrette into her mouth, then makes a face. It’s kind of hard to read.

“Good?” Patience asks.

“Um…” Alex pushes the bowl of leafy greens away from herself. “Maybe we can grab a burger on the way back?”

Patience nods. “Sounds like a plan. In the mean time, we can share…?”

Alex takes her fork from her salad and sticks it into Patience’s, taking a bite. She doesn’t make a face this time, continuing to chew until she says, “Not bad.”

ii.

She’s sure of it now. That little flutter in her stomach whenever Patience Turner is around isn’t nothing. It’s a lot, actually. A whole goddamn lot. It’s all she’s been thinking about in the car. A song came on that reminded Alex of her, and it spiralled from there.

When Alex finally parks her car in the left of the driveway, she’s sweaty and aching. A shower and a a cool glass of water is at the top of her list of wants. Definitely a shower.

The television is on when she unlocks the front door. It smells like food grease.

Patience is wearing a nightgown, standing over the microwave and watching as it glows, spinning with a plate inside. 

“Hey,” Alex says. She sets her work bag down in the living room.

“Hey. How was work?” Patience asks, turning around to face her.

“Same old,” Alex says. “What’s that?”

“Pizza. Hawaiian. You want some?”

“I shouldn’t,” she says, pointing with her thumb over her shoulder. Long day. Bedtime.

“Come on, please. They had a deal on an extra large and there’s no way I’ll be able to finish it on my own,” Patience says. “You really want to leave it for Claire?”

“Well, when you put it like that…” Alex says. She grabs a slice from the box for herself. It’s at that weird stage, where it’s not quite cold but it’s not freshly hot either. The sauce is sort of congealed, but the pineapple makes up for it. Sweet and jucy. It goes well with the pieces of ham. But let’s get real here-- Alex isn’t sticking around for pizza.

Patience takes her plate out thirty seconds early, two slices leaking red tinted grease from the saucy sides of the crust. They both move to the living room, where Patience takes the spot she was evidently inhabiting before Alex got home. She tries to cover them both with her plush, woolly blanket .

It’s like the television screen is actually soaked in blood with how much murder happening on screen as they continue to watch. “What is this?” Alex asks. Out of both curiosity and mild repulsion.

“One of the  _ Friday the 13th _ ’s,” Patience says without missing a beat. “I’m not sure which one. They’ve been on all night. Channel five has a romance marathon on from five until nine, when they start the slasher marathon.”

“I never guessed you were a horror fan,” Alex says.

“I guess we’ve got a lot to learn about each other then.”

iii.

Patience’s 21st birthday. They go out to a bar, just the girls, because Jody would “cramp their style” according to herself. No one mentions they all saw her overnight bag waiting in the back of the front hall closet, or the van’s GPS set to a route to Stillwater. Hopefully she says hi to Donna for them.

It’s kind of dive-y, but isn’t everything in this town? Patience does the appletini game until Claire finally orders vodka sodas for everyone.

Two drinks in, Claire and Kaia start canoodling. Claire gives Kaia a peck on the nose, which makes Alex groan. “Get a room,” she says, sucking on her lime.

“Showing affection to my girlfriend is a crime now?” Claire asks.

“Yes,” Patience agrees. “Against everyone who's single.”

“Fine.” She turns to Kaia. “Want to grab more drinks with me?”

“How romantic,” Kaia quips, but follows Claire anyway.

“They’re gross,” Alex says. Her forehead is beaded with a bit of sweat, that tense look she almost always has faded into the background.

“Yeah. It’s cute though,” Patience says. “I mean, I think they deserve to be a little gross. Talk about beating the odds, right?”

Patience thinks that Alex won’t respond until she says, “Do you think you’ll beat the odds?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, in this life. Hunting and love is like… like oil and water. Yet somehow my stubborn, reckless sister got it.” Alex says.

“It’s not like you’re going to be a nun for the next twenty years,” Patience says. “Unless that’s your plan…?”

“It’s not the  _ plan  _ but… I don’t know. Damaged goods. That’s all that anyone ever seems to see me as.” 

“Well, you’re not. We’ve all got our stuff. Your stuff just happens to have fangs. That doesn’t mean you’re broken. But I do. Think I'll beat the odds. I think you will too."

“I guess you’re right,” Alex says. She finishes the last of her drink, twisting the lime around and around the rim. “You know, actually--”

Whatever Alex has to say, she doesn’t. Claire sits down with Kaia, a tray of four more drinks in her hands. “We return baring gifts,” she says.

Alex takes her new drink, raising it in a toast. “To Patience, and a wonderful evening. Happy 21st birthday.”

“To Patience,” Kaia says, joining her, and then Claire. Patience raises her glass alongside theirs before taking a long sip, all the while looking over the brim at the woman next to her.

iv.

Everything is normal. Quiet. Jody’s working late, Claire’s been gone on a vamp hunt for almost a week now.

And then it isn’t. There’s a loud crash upstairs. Patience’s room. Alex knows it’s hers because it’s right above the living room.

Her mind automatically goes to the worst, because that’s what it’s been trained to do time and time again. She goes to the kitchen, grabs the glock that Jody keeps in the secretly empty drawer under the drying wrack and slowly climbs the stairs. She doesn’t hear any more noise, which only makes her heart beat faster. Alex can hear it in her ears.

Patience’s door is ajar, side lamp leaving a yellow glow on the wall. Alex pushes it open to see her, standing, completely fine. Except, wait. There is something on the floor, pieces with sharp, jagged edges scattered across the hardwood.

“Patience, are you okay?” She gets down on her knees and starts picking up flimsy pieces of paper that are amid the shards. Wait, not paper. Bills. Money. “Patience?” Alex asks again. She puts the gun in the back of her pants.

“Yeah, I’m fine Alex,” Patience says, still on the floor. She’s not looking up from the bills.

“I heard a crash. What is that?”

“It’s a piggy bank. Well- was. I needed the money, and that’s the only way to open it so--” she explains. Her voice is rushed, tone upset.

“Are you sure you’re okay? I mean--”

“Shit!” Patience mutters lowly. She drops the bills quickly, turning her left hand palm-side up to inspect it. A smaller shard is sticking out of her skin. She gets up off of the ground, stepping around the larger shards to get to the doorway. Alex is still standing there. “Excuse me.”

Alex can finally see her face. It’s tear streaked and red, eyes puffy. “Patience what’s wrong.”

She doesn’t answer, doesn’t brush past Alex through the doorway. Patience stands there for a long time, seemingly staring through Alex at something else. The tears well quickly, though, streaming down her face before she can get her mouth open.

“It’s my dad,” Patience says. She’s trying to keep her tone casual, but it’s not working. “He’s… he’s…” She blows a breath of shaky air through her nose before she opens her mouth again, only sobs coming out now.

Patience’s father. He had a heart attack. In the hospital now. Sure to be fine, Patience says, but she’s scared. What if it happens again? What if he doesn’t make it through the next one? What if no one’s there to call an ambulance?

“I need the money for a bus ticket. You know my Jeep’s in the shop so--”

“I’ll take you,” Alex interrupts. Patience looks surprised.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I want to, so let me okay? We’ll go this weekend, make a day out of it,” she says. “Now let me look at your hand, and we’ll get all of this,” Alex waves at the piggy bank shards on the floor, “Cleaned up.”

She isn’t expecting it, which makes her freeze up when Patience surrounds her in a hug. Then Alex settles into it, wrapping her arms around Patience in return. It’s warm like this. Alex can hear Patience’s heartbeat this close.

It’s nice like this.

v.

“You should tell her,” Kaia says.

“You know I can’t do that,” Patience says.

“Why not?”

“Because it’s cheating, or something. I don’t know. Gaming the system. Telling her might influence her decisions or feelings or whatever.”

“But it’s going to happen anyway,” Kaia says.

“Not necessarily. I mean, you didn’t die right? It’s a potential future. Key word, potential,” Patience says. “Plus, I didn’t ask for love counselling. I just needed to tell someone before I did something stupid.”

“Honestly Patience, I think you’re making the stupid decision by not telling her.”

“Thank you, so much,” Patience says. She presses her hands against the dinner table to support herself as she stands. “Listen not everyone’s love lives is magical, inter-dimensional bullshit. Sometimes you just- you don’t do things, okay?” She takes a deep breath, holding the bridge of her nose. “Sorry, that was rude.”

“I think we both know what you  _ want _ to do here. What matters is what you  _ will  _ do,” Kaia says.

“So you’re sure?” Claire asks.

“Yeah, I think so,” Alex says.

“Are you going to tell her?”

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know? You just told me you think you love her. That seems like a pretty big deal not to tell someone,” Claire says.

“Have you told Kaia you love her?”

“Yeah.”

“And how long did that take?” Alex asks. Claire remains silent, an answer in itself. “Exactly. How I am supposed to just bring that up? ‘Hey Patience, I know you’ve only been living with us for a year and a half but I just wanted to let you know I’m in love with you. No biggie.’”

“I still think you should do it,” Claire says. “No matter how awkward it is, it’ll be worth it.”

“You have no idea of knowing that,” Alex says,

“Come on. Have you seen the way that girl looks at you? Ever since her birthday, Patience always looks at you. She’s always wondering where you are, when you’re working.”

“Jody does that too.”

“You know what I mean,” Claire says. “And you know what it means.”

“I think I need some air,” Alex says. She gets up from Claire’s bed, opening the door and heading towards the stairs.

“I think I need some time alone. To think about all of this,” Patience says. She walks away from the dining room, up the stairs. She hears a door open and close, and then sees Alex approaching the staircase.

“Hey,” Alex says. She stops at the top landing.

“Hi,” Patience says. She stops in the middle of the stairs. She says, “I was just going upstairs,” at the same time as Alex says, “I was just going downstairs.” They both laugh. Patience makes it the rest of the way up, moving to the side as Alex brushes past her to go down.

She nods to herself, not sticking around to watch Alex get all the way to the bottom. Once she closes the door, Patience puts her head in her hands. “Oh god,” she mumbles.

vi.

Popcorn. Another movie night with the horror marathon on channel five. Jody’s in the kitchen with Claire, washing dishes. Alex and Patience are alone in the living room. These movies are nothing but fuel for that molasses-slow feeling of dread for Alex. Or maybe it’s the words that she’s been on the verge of saying since Patience popped the popcorn that is forming a pit in her stomach.

“He’s definitely going to die,” Patience says between crunches. “That’s what happens when you go down a hallway alone.”

“Is anyone really safe though?” Alex asks. The answer is no, from horror movies and falling head over heels for psychics with a penchant for slashers.

“Absolutely not. Everyone’s free reign. Except for the final girl,” Patience says. She stuffs another handful of popcorn in her mouth.

Something Alex has noticed is that Patience never jumps. When the knife comes down on screen, she never flinches. She stays completely still, calm. Anyone only ever seeing her in these moments, watching horror flicks on late night cable wouldn’t be able to compare and contrast with all of the soft spots of Patience that Alex has seen.

She doesn’t want to hurt. She wants to heal. Patience is a giver, Alex has learned. She has a feeling Patience would give everything she had for something she truly believed in. The thought is kind of scary. Patience is brave, too. And goddamn, she’s smart. Her smile makes Alex feel warm, like she’s nearing too close to the sun sometimes.

God, she does. Alex does love this girl. Alex Jones loves Patience Turner. She wants to shout it from the rooftops right now. But first, she has to actually tell the girl she loves before she can do that. For some reason, that’s scarier than any monster Alex has ever fought.

Patience passes the bowl of popcorn to Alex, letting her hold it for a while. Another kill comes, and she flinches. Popcorn soars through the air before gravity pulls it back down, onto the couch.

“Shit,” Alex mumbles. “Sorry.” She moves on the cushion to get to the kernels, pushing more into the crevice between them in the couch. Both of their hands go to it at the same time. They touch. It feels more serious than it actually is. Alex’s heart feels like it is in her throat now, pounding away. She’s going to say it.

“Is everything okay?” Patience asks.

“Yeah, um. I actually had a question, I’ve actually been meaning to ask you for a while.” Alex has her attention now, both of them forgetting about the popcorn. “There’s this theater downtown, they play old horror movies. I was wondering if you maybe wanted to go sometime? Like, together.”

It feels like a million years before Patience says, “I think I’d really like that.” Then, “You know, there’s something I’ve been meaning to do for a while now too.” Before Alex can even ask, Patience answers by pulling her close and planting a kiss on her lips.

Alex moves her hands into Patience’s hair. The popcorn bowl takes a dive for the floor, kernels spilling across the living room. They both ignore it.

When they separate, Alex smiles. “Not bad."


End file.
